Well I have recently heard the news of Jeff's sudden departure, and typically I wouldn't be happier. I'll get this out of my way right now and say, I never liked Jeff. I didn't like his reviews, and I'd be lying if I said his on screen attitude didn't irk me. But the one undeniable fact about Jeff was that he was honest and true to himself, and I admired that.

Now Gertsmann is not the only reason for this blog post, Gamespot has in my opinion lost most of its quality and appeal over this last year. From some very sketchy reviews to poor site controls and layout. Across the board (pun totally intended) it has been a great disappointment. And side note here, whoever is doing all those annoying puns on the main page (for news articles) please stop. It is impossible to know what a news article is about when so many puns are thrown in.

I could detail all my complaints in a 10 page essay, but such a thing would be pointless and a waste of time. Suffice it to say I'm very disappointed and I will leave it at that.

I have good reason to believe the allegations brought forth that Gamespot was threatened by Eidos for removal of their ads if Gertsmann wasn't dealt with are true. I have no proof of course, but with the sudden rise of rumors being tossed about that Review Site A is being funded by Game Company B to provide more favorable reviews, I find it a little more than a coincidence. And this rumor sounds more credible than the ones I have heard in the past. Besides even if Gamespot was to come forth, whatever their answer is, I doubt I would believe them.

When the credibility of a site is compromised it is hard for me to believe anything that is posted on said site.

I have been contemplating leaving this site for some time and these recent events have made the decision for me. I have no doubt been considerably less active thanks to the above mentioned complaints, but I would visit from time to time. That stops now.

Well I finally joined the masses and I now own a wii. Why did I finally break down and buy one you ask? Simple, it was dirt cheap. It seriously cost me only 77 dollars including taxes (CAD), I should add this is not stolen and it is brand new. And I also snagged a copy of Resident Evil 4 for the wii at only 15 bucks (used).

How did I manage this you ask? Read on below.

Rogers Video here in Canada is having a sale right now, buy any 2 used games for 30 bucks (yes really, ANY). So I went to rogers video and picked up (at 15 dollars each):

The Darkness (PS3) = TiV of $47.34 @ EB*
Ninja Gaiden Sigma (PS3) = TiV $44.33 @ EB*
Tenchu Z (X360) = TiV $23.33 @ EB*
Resident Evil 4 (Wii)

*TiV boosted by trade 3 get an extra 10 dollars.

Then I took a trip over to EB Games who had just miracliously receieved a shipment of Wii's a few hours before. So I used the above 3 games (combined TiV of $115), some trade in credit I had on a card ($86) and all the money on my preorder for Too Human (that had cost me 15 bucks thanks to the trade 3 deal) + 10 dollars to pay for the thing.

I couldn't believe my luck. Today is an awesome day.

Well I have downloaded and played through a great many demos and live arcade trials recently and so I thought I'd share a quick summary on each one.

First off we have my pride and joy, Tenchu Z. The demo for this game can only be downloaded from the Japanese market right now, so if you don't have a Japanese... account get one! If you don't know how to do this, search for a guide on google, but its really a simple process. Anyway, I have played the hell out of this demo since I first downloaded it a while ago. To put it simply, I am extremely happy I pre-orderd this game. The controls are a lot tighter in this one and there are more moves at your disposal (sheathing your weapon is back from Tenchu 2!). Also stealth is a lot more varied in this version as you can be detected by sight (including the glint of an unsheathed sword), sound or even smell (which is naturally really frickin cool). Obviously the graphics have received an update as well, but they aren't anything to write home about. Overall I'm very impressed with what they have done and I cannot wait to get my hands on the game in 2 weeks.

Continuing with the Japanese demos, next we have Eternal Sonata (or "trusty bell" as its known in Japan). This one was an unexpected surprise and a good example of why more companies should release demos as a way of marketing their games. This demo will have me switching my Two Worldspre-order (as this has been a spiraling heap of disappointment) to this game when it finally shows up on eb game's system. Why is this game so amazing you ask? In short it is based on classical music, and everything in the game is in one way or another is influenced by this theme. This of course includes an amazing score by one of my favourite composers, Motoi Sakuraba. As far as gameplay goes this game shines. The battle system has a nice mixture of turn based and real time elements, somewhat similar to the Valkyrie Profile series (of which I am a huge fan). And NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS!!!! YAY! And lest we forget the incredible graphics, which is a very detailed form of cell shading. Overall this game looks, sounds and plays great.

Now we move onto demos found on the North American marketplace. For starters we have "Blacksite: Area 51". This game has me somewhat intrigued, but I cannot help but feel like it will amount to nothing more than a standard FPS. While it does have some nice graphics and some great sound, the gameplay is nothing out of the ordinary. This is however a "teaser" demo, so I will hold off on passing too much judgment, as there may be more the developers have yet to reveal. Overall it feels very much like a teaser, and here is hoping the devs have something bigger in store for us.

Next up is the DiRT demo. The first thing I noticed when I started playing this game were the incredible visuals and excellent damage effects (not just on the car itself, but on the environment as well). These kept me entertained for a while (including the fun collisions I had with my opponent), until the hard realization that this game wasn't about crashing but racing around in circles hit me. And that pretty much sucked the fun out of the remainder of my time spent playing it. This game just reminded me that there is a reason I play burnout... its actually fun. Although I imagine hard core racing fans will have a lot more to enjoy here.

And this brings me to the Forza 2 demo. This game was just as boring as I thought it would be (hell I think it was probably more boring than I thought it would be). Really the only reason I downloaded the demo was to look at the supposed "nice" graphics. Which after playing DiRT, paled in comparison. The cars look pretty nice and all, but the collision effects are pathetic to say the least (granted that isn't the focus of the game, but come on this is "next gen" you would think they would of at least spent a little time at making damage look more realistic). Also the environments are quite sad really, something I would of thought they would of spent some time on. Although I will admit my opinion of this game is highly biased, and my summary of the demo inconclusive, as I barely played the demo for 5 minutes before it almost bored me to death. Overall this game is clearly, in every sense of the phrase, not for me.

Finally we have "Pirates: At Worlds End". Well to say I walked into this one with high expectations would be a complete and utter lie. Disney Interactive's history for complete crap is no secret. So when I booted up this game you may imagine my surprise when I realized the game actually had good graphics. And the water/rain effects in this game were pretty incredible. As well the voice acting was quite good. However the gameplay left a lot to be desired, and the game is unimaginably easy. But there are some nice concepts in there (like the fencing mini game) that, had they been more fleshed out and better implemented, could of made for a decent or even good game. As it stands the game is nothing more than a standard beat em up with platforming elements. If you are a die hard pirates fan, you may find enough to like in this game to warrant a rental.

The ability to download demos is one of the aspects I appreciate most about the xbox live marketplace. They give you a good taste of a game without costing you a penny. Many games I wouldn't have even touched had there not been a demo. And in some cases demos have influenced my decision to buy a game. So it really is an excellent way for companies to advertise their games and increase possible sales.

And now onto the live arcade games.

First up we have the incredible Aegis Wing (and the fact that it is free is that much more incredible). This game contains within it unparalleled amounts of fun. Ok so thats a bit of an overstatement, but you get the picture. Playing it by yourself and you will have a blast, but getting together with 3 other friends and blasting the hell out of everything... well there is no word in the English language to convey the sheer amount of enjoyment you experience. And with the ability to form a 4 ship mega-ship (or the "mothership from hell") its just... wow. They captured everything that is good and holy about arcade space shooters and added on to it with a few nice little tweaks here and there. Of course the mothership from hell thing is the best addition. As well the music in the game is surprisingly good, if a bit repetitive. Plus online or offline play with 4 friends is just amazing. Had they charged 800 points for this game, I would of bought it in a heartbeat. The fact that its free only sweetens the deal.

Now I have been pretty harsh on the DS in the past, but not for the stupid reasons that all the fanboys use (like "silly rabbit DS is for kids"). My reasoning is for the simple fact that with all the potential that this system has, its alarming at how little innovation there is on the system. Sure it may have a touch screen that could be utilized for all sorts of cool things, but instead developers have decided that moving the menu systems down to the touch screen is "innovative" enough. Its been out for a few years and yet the best expression of innovation is in "pictochat", which has been with the system from the beginning. With such great hardware full of such promise you would think that by now someone would of figured out how to really do something cool with the system. Elite Beat Agents is a neat idea, but you gotta admit following a ball around a screen isn't exactly what you think of when you hear "innovation". Frankly the only really cool thing I've seen so far is being able to play the guitar on the ds, and that has yet to make it to these shores. And you would think someone would have released an RTS game by now, the system is just so perfect for it. While I'll admit that wouldn't be particularily innovative, it would be unique in the fact that it would be the first truly portable and easy to control RTS game. Hell the GBA has a frickin RTS game, so they cannot argue that the DS isn't powerful enough.

Having said all that, I finally caved in and got one. EB games in Canada is currently offering a deal where you can get a DS lite by trading in 6 games that have a minimum trade in value of $8. While I didn't jump at the chance, I decided to dig through the collection and see what some games I was done with were worth. To my surprise 4 of them qualified. I decided to check out the local blockbuster video and see if I could round up 2 more. To make a long story short, I ended up getting a white DS lite for 9 bucks including tax. Also snagged a copy of Phoenix Wright for 20 bucks brand new as eb games is clearing them out. I figure at least this way if I am disappointed with the lack of innovation, I won't be disappointed with loosing 9 bucks.

Now obviously I don't believe the DS is for kids, but I won't debate that there is a lot of kiddie games available for the system as is true nintendo fashion. Its obvious this system is targeted to more casual gamers, a market that had gone pretty much untapped previously. But anyone who has played a game like Phoenix Wright will know that kids could not possibly play that game, it would fly straight over their heads (as would most of the humour). 

Overall the DS is neat little system, however for me to really appreciate it I'm gonna need to see more games that live up to the potential the hardware presents. Unlike so many others, I'm not simply happy to recieve the same recycled crap that nintendo likes to spit out. And for once I'd like them to follow through with a promise and truly be innovative, instead of releasing some hardware but not following it with any matching software. A touch screen is great, but if I wanted a PDA I would of gone out and bought one.

PS - go here for more info on current eb games deals (there is some really good stuff here): http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=436334 

Well I just finished building a new pc, or more appropriately upgraded my old one as only half the parts are new. My old pc was over 3 years old and so it was about time for an upgrade. I can safely say I hope I don't have to do it for another 3 years or more, as this was a huge pain in the ass.

I recieved all my parts on friday (I ordered them online). So like a kid at christmas time I opened the package and stood in awe at the brand new parts in their fancy packaging. After pulling myself out of the trance I got to work on the pc. I'm a very meticulous person, so I was very careful while installing every component. I've built a number of computers now so this didn't take long as I knew what I was doing. Once everything was installed, I hooked up the power, monitor, keyboard and mouse, and I turned the system on.... nothing. No display, no beep, nothing. After some thinking I decided it must be the power supply (as the one I had on there was a very cheap one). I had read somewhere that my video card needed quite a beefy power supply. After a nice talk to the customer service rep for my video card (EVGA is the maker and they have, bar none, the best customer services I have ever seen) I confirmed that a new power supply would be required. I took a trip down to the local computer shop (great bunch of guys that own and operate that store) and purchased a PSU that was not only perfect in specs, but even more perfect in price (beating out the online competition by a sizable margin, a rarity these days). I returned home and hooked up everything to the new PSU. Problem solved right? Nope. Same issue was still present. So after some research on the internet I decided the ram must be causing the problem. After another trip to the same shop (and an excellent deal on some really nice ram) I tested the system with the new stuff and yet again no cigar. So now obviously I'm pissed. I ran a bench test (where you run the system with the most minimum components in order to deduct the problem) and discovered that the board would not only not emit a POST beep, but it also wouldn't emit any warning beeps at all. I was exhasted and figured the board must be dead. The next day I decided to have the guys at the computer shop take a look at it, and sure enough the board was in fact dead. I decided to buy a board off of them instead (as it was cheaper and was made by a far more reliable and favourable company, MSI) and I will be returning this other board to the place I bought it from. The kicker is I have to pay the shipping (as is standard with most online store returns) but at least I will be getting a a full refund (no restocking fee).

Anyway the pc is now up and running and MSI has yet again bailed me out of a bad mobo situation. A similar situation happened when I built my old pc 3 years ago using an ultra crapy Soyo board (never EVER buy anything made by those wack jobs), and it was replaced by an MSI board that has been finctioning beautifully to this day. The maker of the culprit this time around was Asus and I should of gone with my gut instinct to avoid them initially. I do realize a bad mobo can come from any manufacturer, but its kind of funny that it happens when I decide to take a chance with a company I don't particularily like or trust (had built a system for a friend with one of their mobos and while it is working, it did have some issues). Anyway it will be MSI from here on out and the only thing stopping me from buying their mobos and ONLY their mobos is if they stop making them or go out of business.

I have learned that:

1) I should never buy a motherboard online, as thats just asking for trouble with such an integral part of a system

2) Only go with MSI when it comes to motherboards (I have built 4 systems with MSI boards and all have worked wonderfully).

3) Computers are a b****.

For those who want to know what parts I used to build my new system, here you go:

New

Intel Core2Duo E6600 (Conroe) cpu (recent price drop and free SupCom game made this a better buy than an AMD, which I would normally go with)

EVGA E-Geforce 8800 GTS 320 mb video card (these guys offer amazing quality, warranty and customer service while also beating everyone else in price, the best value for a video card I have ever seen)

MSI P965 Neo-F Motherboard (basic stable board, this is all I ever ask of my boards)

Two 1 GB sticks (in dual channel) of Crucial Rendition Ram (I'm a cheap ass I know, but this stuff works great)

Cooler Master Extreme Power Duo 600W PSU

Cheap "Power Up!" case I bought a while ago (very sturdy and looks pretty cool to)

Old

160 GB Samsung SATA Spindrive HDD

120 GB Western Digital IDE HDD (3 years of almost constant use and still kicking, gotta love WD)

Lite-On DVD RW/CD RW burner

Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor and the rest.

So there you have it, a recap of the PC from hell.

PS - Nvidia's drivers leave something to be desired. ATI had a much cleaner layout for their control system and much better options, at least on my old card. On the bright side though, Supreme Commander looks amazing and runs incredibly well on this new setup.

Some of you have no doubt heard of the alleged "madden curse" that some of our smaller minded brethren took upon themselves to conjure up, possibly in hopes of forgetting other short comings. Anyways it seems its that time of year where a new madden title is soon to be released, and the idiots are amassing, and thanks to that wonderful invention we like to call "free speech" we have to listen to them. It seems fans of the Chargers football team don't want their poster boy on the front cover in fear of something awful befalling him, as is written in the big book of curses. According to them, being featured on the cover of a madden game means the individual will either be injured or show a poor season in the upcoming year. Of course these geniuses forget to realize that their role model is in fact involved in a sport where beefy men tackle each other on a very regular basis. If one does not get injured in the course of a game I'd call them pretty damned lucky. But they persist on believing their superstition and have decided to start a petition.

If anything does happen to Mr. Tomlinson after being featured on the cover of Madden 08 I would probably attribute it to being featured on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" as that Jimmy Kimmel is a walking curse to all humanity.  

You can find the article here if you have no idea what I'm ranting about: http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=25566571&sid=6169174&tag=latestnews;title;1 

In other news, I have pre-ordered Kengo Zero so I hope this one really makes it here. So far the only confirmation I have is that it is on the pre-order list with a release date in September. As I have been told that this game had received financial backing from Microsoft for its development (as part of their marketing strategy in Japan), I'm not too worried.

PS - I have been playing a lot of Oblivion... again, but this time on the 360. Working on a purely mage character right now (appropriately named "Magic Milton") and I have completed the Mages Guild quest line. Currently working on the main story now as I have yet to beat it in either version. In total I have spent approx. 150 hours in both the pc and 360 versions combined and that is a hell of a lot of game play spent on one game for me. The only other game that may rival that total is Age of Empires. Needless to say even after all my time spent on that game, it still amazes the hell out of me. Best damn game I have ever played.

Yup kiddies, it's that time of year, where the snow melts and birds sing. You know what I'm talking about... Oblivion season! Shivering Isles came out yesterday and you can bet your ass I was one of the first to get a copy. After playing it for a few hours (after I got home from work), I must say I'm very impressed. Of course that shouldn't come as a surprise, seeing as this is an expansion to my number 1 favourite game of all time. But still, I am very impressed at how well it expands the Oblivion universe. Not only does it add a whole new land to explore, but this land is drastically different from anything else in Oblivion. And I'm not talking just the geography either, it's the inhabitants (creatures and npc's) and the overall atmosphere as well. Being based entirely upon the mind of Sheogorath is just brilliant. Oh yes and Lord Sheogorath is real entertaining to talk to, I can't see why Gamespot labeled him as annoying. I always enjoy talking to him as he's bound to make you chuckle.

In other news, I've been pre-ordering myself all of the games due out in the next 10 months or so that I know I will enjoy. Why you ask? Well because EB Games here in Canada is having an insane deal that involves trading in 3 games (min. trade in value of 8 dollars each) and getting any new game (upcoming or already out) worth 69.99 or less free. With a little exploitation of this deal I have managed to pre-order some games for less than 30 dollars each (all worth 69.99) and some were pre-ordered for around 12 dollars (but this involved exploiting multiple deals at various places ). So far I've managed to get the following with this deal; God of War 2, GRAW 2, Assassin's Creed, Bioshock(360), Two Worlds (360), Tenchu Z, and Stranglehold(360). I'm planning on switching Stranglehold to the Half Life 2 orange box (360) when it is on EB Games pre-order list and I plan to use this once more to get Mass Effect when it is also on the list. So far I've saved myself over 300 dollars (assuming I was to buy each game at the 69.99 retail price). Let's put it this way, some of those $6.97 bargain bin games at Walmart actually have a TIV of more than 8 dollars at EB Games. Just phone ahead and get some TIV quotes from EB Games before buying up the whole bargain bin. By the way this deal is available for all games on the weekends and select titles during the week. This deal ends the last weekend of March (so this weekend coming up).

GRAW 2 is good fun online, and is a great all around multiplayer game (online and off). It even supports 4 player split screen! But the single player is severely lacking. Not a game I would recommend for the full retail value, but worth it if you can get it for around 30 bucks.

Finally it seems Kengo Zero may be seeing a North American release, as it has popped up on the pre-order list at EB Games. I'm seriously considering pre-ordering this bad boy as well. Kengo was quite a bit of fun on the PS2, and I would love to see another iteration of it.

Well I tried playing through Gears of War for the second
time, but it seems I have lost all interest in the game. The campaign mode was great for a single play through, but it really gets tiresome the second time around. While I realize that its unfair to say graphics is all this game has, at this point graphics is really the only surviving good thing about this game. Lets face it, there is nothing specifically revolutionary about the game play. Hell I'd even argue that the game play wasn't very good, but thats kinda unfair since its in a genre that has been pretty stale for a while now, so I suppose any improvement is a big one. Seems I may have been a bit too kind in my review, but I didn't want to come off as someone who is just bashing the game. The multiplayer isn't even worth commenting on. Anyway, EB games is offering a $45 trade in for this game, so I think I will take them up on this offer. Maybe the next guy will get more out of this game than I did.

On a lighter note, I'm thoroughly enjoying Valkyrie Profile Lenneth on mypsp. This is hands down the best turn based RPG I have ever played. The battle system for once doesn't make you want to shoot yourself, AND NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS! Yay! Plus there is a surprising amount of depth to the game, and quite a bit of freedom. The music and art direction in this game are fantastic. I'm thoroughly impressed. If you are an RPG fan and own a PSP, you owe it to yourself to play this game.

And finally, it seems Two Worlds has gone MMORPG on me. I know I had placed it in my top 10 list, but with this new info I think I will have to bump it off of there. Why? I despise MMORPGs with every fiber of my being. Not only are they boring beyond belief but users are usually charged a monthly fee to play a game they already paid retail price
for. That my friends is a crime no matter how you try to justify it. One can only hope that the single player mode in Two Worlds has not been sacrificed because of this. I guess we will see when this game is released.

PS - finally got rid of the plague that is PGR3. Even though
I got the game free with my 360, I couldn't for the life of me get rid of the
damn thing (thanks to the "not for resale" bit on the cover). Anyway
I finally just scraped the cover and was able to trade it in at EB games
without incident. Who would of thought that a free game would cause me so much trouble. Heh I was close to just throwing the stupid game out. I truly feel sorry for those who actually paid money for that... abomination.